The next day, Mei returned to Grandma Li’s villa.
During the days she had stayed there after the incident, she had begun noticing subtle changes in Grandma Li’s health.
Her complexion had grown noticeably paler with each passing day.
She was old, yes, but her health was never supposed to decline this quickly.
Mei remembered how Grandma Li’s hands had trembled as she placed the bowl of freshly prepared food before her, how she constantly rubbed her aching neck and elbows, and how every step she took had become increasingly laboured.
At the time, Mei had been too preoccupied to think much of it.
Grandma Li had always possessed a fragile constitution since she was young.
The doctors had once said it was a miracle she had lived this long.
“Grandma,” Mei called softly as she stepped into her room.
The moment she crossed the doorway, a faint metallic scent drifted into her nose.
It was incredibly subtle.
Had she not studied medicine for years, she would never have noticed it.
The smell made her stomach churn, an inexplicable sense of unease creeping over her.
“Grandma,” she called again.
Silence.
Her heartbeat quickened.
An inexplicable sense of dread settled over her as every instinct told her something was wrong.
She searched every corner of the bedroom before stepping into the hallway, asking the servants if anyone had seen Grandma Li,they all shook their heads.
“Madam has been in her room since early this morning,” one of them answered.
“She hasn’t come out once.”
Mei’s pulse raced.
If Grandma Li had remained inside her room all morning, then where was she?
Just as panic began tightening around her chest, the faint sound of running water reached her ears.
The bathroom.
Without another thought, Mei rushed towards it and pushed the door open.
Grandma Li was slumped motionless inside the bathtub, her body half submerged in the cooling water.
“Grandma!”
Mei hurried over and reached for her.
The instant her fingers touched Grandma Li’s skin, her expression changed, her skin was ice cold, her eyelids remained shut, the whites of her eyes tinged with blood-red veins.
Mei immediately checked the pulse at her wrist.
It was there, weak dangerously weak, her life was hanging by a thread.
Relief and panic collided within her at the same time.
She still had time.
Several servants rushed inside.
“Help me carry her onto the bed. Carefully.”
Her voice remained calm despite the storm raging inside her heart.
She could not lose Grandma Li.
She refused to lose the only family who had ever loved her unconditionally.
The entire villa fell into chaos as the servants hurried to obey.
“Leave this room afterwards, and suppress today’s events. I don’t want a single word reaching anyone outside this villa.”
As she spoke, Mei opened her bag and removed a small leather pouch containing rows of silver needles, she carefully but swiftly removed grandma’s clothing.
The servants exchanged uneasy glances before quietly leaving the room.
After her mother’s death, Mei had lived with Grandma Li in the countryside, where she had become the disciple of a renowned Traditional Chinese Medicine master.
Years of relentless training had refined her skills until they surpassed those of many experienced physicians.
She steadied her breathing and examined Grandma Li once more, carefully checking her pulse before selecting several silver needles.
With swift, practised movements, she inserted one beneath the nose to stimulate consciousness, another at the wrist to support circulation, followed by several more along carefully chosen meridian points on her arms and legs.
Each needle entered with flawless precision, her fingers gently manipulating them to encourage the smooth flow of qi and blood.
She closed her eyes briefly, silently praying she had not arrived too late.
A moment later, Grandma Li suddenly coughed.
Her chest rose sharply as she drew in a shaky breath before her eyelids slowly fluttered open.
“Mei… Mei…”
The moment Mei heard her voice, the strength she had been clinging to shattered.
She threw her arms around Grandma Li, tears spilling freely down her cheeks.
Every fear she had forced herself to suppress came crashing down at once.
If she had arrived only a little later…
She did not dare imagine what might have happened.
“What happened, Grandma?” Mei asked after carefully removing each needle.
She helped Grandma Li sit upright before wrapping a towel around her shoulders.
“Why were you in the bathroom?”
Grandma Li looked at her with confusion.
“I don’t know, Mei Mei. I suddenly felt unbearably hot and weak. I thought soaking in cold water might help, so I climbed into the bathtub. After that… I can’t remember anything.”
Mei gently took her wrist again, checking her pulse, her brows knitted together.
The pulse remained remarkably weak.
Far too weak.
It resembled that of someone suffering from a long standing illness, yet only a few days ago Grandma Li had been chatting happily without the slightest sign of exhaustion.
Something didn’t add up.
“Does anywhere hurt?” Mei asked quietly.
“My head aches, and my legs have become so weak these past few days. Walking has been difficult.”
Mei’s expression darkened.
Fatigue, weakness and a declining pulse suggested something deeper.
Treating the pain would only mask the problem.
She needed to uncover the underlying cause.
“It’s alright, Grandma.” Mei smiled reassuringly.
“Where’s Aunt Min?”
Aunt Min had served Grandma Li faithfully for decades.
After being abandoned by her husband with nothing but her young daughter, Grandma Li had taken both of them in, provided them with a home and even paid for her daughter’s education.
Their bond had long surpassed that of master and servant.
“She went to the Anji to get herbs ”
“What herbs?”
Grandma Li pointed towards a drawer beside the bed.
“The prescription is inside. She asked the receptionist at the pharmacy to write everything down so you could see it.”
Mei walked over, opened the drawer and unfolded the prescription booklet.
Her eyes slowly scanned every ingredient.
Her brows furrowed.
The prescription contained herbs commonly used to relieve arthritic pain, including Du Huo, Sang Ji Sheng, Qin Jiao, Wei Ling Xian and Niu Xi.
The herbs themselves weren’t wrong.
Any experienced physician could prescribe them for joint pain.
But something about the formula unsettled her.
The dosages were excessive, and several herbs shouldn’t have been combined in such quantities for an elderly patient.
It looked less like treatment…
and more like someone wanted to suppress the symptoms while slowly exhausting her body.
“It’s prescribed for arthritis,” Mei said calmly as she folded the paper, “but I don’t believe arthritis is your real problem. Your symptoms point towards something much deeper. We need to find the cause instead of simply suppressing the pain.”
Grandma Li nodded slowly.
Mei looked back at the prescription, her eyes narrowing.
One more thing bothered her.
The pharmacy’s seal was unfamiliar.
“Grandma, which pharmacy filled this prescription?”
Grandma Li looked at her in confusion.
“I don’t know, Mei Mei. The logo should be on the booklet somewhere. It’s their prescription booklet.”
Mei’s gaze sharpened.
“If you don’t know the pharmacy… who brought this prescription back for you?”
“It’s Min.”